In sports, every generation sees its share of iconic rookie-and-veteran duos who somehow click. For Quinnipiac’s men’s tennis team, that unexpected spark came from graduate student Daniel Velek and first-year standout James Lorenzetti.
When the fall season kicked off in September, this duo did not record one win together. But by spring, they were the winning combination no one saw coming.
What started as an experiment quickly became the team’s strongest asset. This is the story of how chemistry, trust, and timing turned two individuals into a winning force—and how the rookie and the vet found something more than just success on the court.
Known for being the loudest on the team and having sharp instincts, Velek is the kind of teammate who makes those around him better. While he played only two matches in the fall, his spring season told a different story: a 9-8 record, including a 6-2 showing in MAAC play. Solid, focused, and consistent – the numbers speak for themselves.
James Lorenzetti entered the program with hunger and hustle, and it shows. He brings a spark to every match and a sense of fearlessness to every point.While his spring record reflects a tough learning curve, his fall season hinted at what’s ahead: a 3-2 in the fall that showcased his grit.
He may be new, but James doesn’t play like he’s afraid to fail. Instead, he pushes, adapts, and brings intensity to the court every time.
Chemistry on the Court
This season, James learned one of the most valuable lessons in college athletics: success is doubled down to more than just skill—it’s about partnership.
For Daniel, that meant learning patience — something James helped bring out. The rookie challenged the vet, and the vet anchored the rookie. It’s not the most expected match, but it’s one that worked — because they both wanted the same thing to win.
Despite not clicking in the fall, they quickly left that behind. Their focus was the future. They taught each other lessons that deepened their chemistry, on and off the court.
Their first time meeting? A quiet, almost forgettable moment at a regional tournament at Yale in fall 2023. James was still in highschool while Daniel was already on the team, as he chatted with James’s parents. But nothing came of it immediately.
Six months later, James arrived on campus. Their coaches circled back- this time putting Daniel and James together for the spring. What started as a second chance turned into the team’s most reliable duo. While other doubles teams continued to shuffle, Daniel and James stayed locked in — the only consistent partnership all season.
Their on-court chemistry wasn’t built overnight. Long practices shaped it, shared setbacks, and an understanding that their differences made them better together.
In Sync
Despite their age gap, Daniel and James share something more important: the same mindset. They don’t just play to win — they play to grow.
When I asked them who takes losses harder, they both had the same answer.
Tennis is as much a mental game as it is physical. Unlike team sports where multiple players can share the weight, doubles tennis demands complete alignment between two people, point by point. One miscommunication or dip in focus can cost the match. That’s why mindset matters. Partners need to be synced not only in play style but also in emotion, energy, and resilience.
It’s not just about being there during the wins — it’s about being there when your partner misses a shot, loses focus, or hits a wall.
The Final Match
At the heart of it all is trust. It’s the unspoken agreement that defines every successful doubles team: “I’ve got your back, and you’ve got mine.”
For Daniel and James, that agreement has become something bigger than tennis. Their chemistry on the court is built not just on strategy, but on support. Not just on wins, but on willingness — to learn, to adjust, and to show up for each other, day after day.
What started as a coach’s experiment turned into a championhip-winning partnership. And now? It’s a friendship.
When asked who would survive on a deserted island, this is what they had to say….
For junior outfielder Mary Fogg, music—like softball—is an outlet for expression.
In a sport that is primarily mental, Fogg uses music to focus. It’s a natural part of her pregame preparation, not just blocking out distractions or serving as background noise, but helping her reset.
“Softball is such a game of failure,” Fogg said. “It allows you to kind of regroup in yourself and be like, ‘OK, whatever just happened doesn’t matter anymore.’”
As Fogg steps towards the batter’s box, her walk-up song—Rihanna’s “Breakin’ Dishes”—plays for the crowd. At this point, it’s no longer just a song; it’s a ritual that sets her up for success.
“When you’re about to go up to bat, it’s just, like kind of a song that’ll get you in the right head space, make you feel good and clear your mind.”
But music’s influence isn’t limited to gameday. It extends to Fogg’s routine, including her training along with her team off the field. In Quinnipiac’s weight room, the speakers blare the softball team’s playlist, one that features contributions from the entire roster.
“Music is really important in the weight room, more than at practice itself,” Fogg said. “Everybody’s listening to music that they enjoy and that will bring their spirits up if their song plays, and it’s kind of like a little boost in their mood.”
The playlist leans heavily into fun, upbeat rap music—songs the team can sing along to while lifting. Drake tracks like “Rich Baby Daddy” and “NOKIA” are staples.
“It’s usually the songs that you can kind of make fun of in a way and make jokes out of,” Fogg said.
But for Fogg, music isn’t just about the preparation for competition—it also helps her find stability in what she calls “a game of failure.” Whether it’s after a rough inning or a bad sequence of events in a game, a single song can be therapeutic for her and her teammates.
“If something goes wrong and we all hear a song that we really like, then it helps reset,” Fogg said. “It sets the energy back and gets everybody back on the same page.”
The positive, upbeat music is essential—not just for Fogg, but for the whole team. If the music between innings were slow and sad, players would be down on themselves and remain frustrated.
That’s why Fogg and her teammates look to music that creates joy and a sense of camaraderie.
“One of the main things that we’ve been talking about this year is being able to have your teammates back and really supporting them,” Fogg said. “If they make a mistake, it’s like ‘That’s OK, you’re going to get the next ball, you’re going to do the next play for your teammate.”
If every Quinnipiac athlete added a track to a shared playlist, Fogg said hers would be Rihanna’s “Breakin’ Dishes.”
“It has to be, just because I feel like that’s my song of the year,” Fogg said.
Sophomore forward Kahlen Lamarche doesn’t turn to music for motivation—it’s her way of staying grounded.
“I’m a player who kind of doesn’t want to get too caught up in the game or the moment,” Lamarche said. “Songs take my mind off of a big game or having to achieve something in that game.”
Lamarche’s nearly 10-hour playlist is rich in country music, headlined by popular acts such as Luke Combs and Luke Bryan. The easy rhythm of the genre playing through her headphones is an important part of her preparation before taking the ice.
“They’re loosey goosey,” Lamarche said. “They just allow me to have fun and sing along.”
Songs like “When It Rains It Pours” by Luke Combs and “She’s Country” by Jason Aldean are “must plays” in her rotation. The latter, with its driving tempo, finds its way into her headphones closer to puck drop.
“That’s another big song that I love listening to before games,” Lamarche said. “It’s got an upbeat to it and it kind of just gets me in the zone and dialed.”
Even with a handcrafted playlist of country music that is longer than the average American workday, Lamarche has been surprised by her music. One of the most important songs in her life wasn’t one she was looking for—it found her.
“It was kind of like when you click a song and then it goes on a random queue shuffle,” Lamarche said.
That’s how she discovered “What Are You Waiting For” by Nickelback.
The song’s message about taking action and living in the moment helped Lamarche as the Quinnipiac women’s ice hockey team’s season came to an end, just shy of an NCAA tournament appearance.
“That song showed me that I’ve got to take action for what I want to come next,” Lamarche said. “If I dwell on the past and what happened, like the next steps, next year, won’t ever happen if I don’t come to terms with what happened.”
The song’s impact didn’t end with the 4-1 loss to Clarkson in the ECAC playoffs.
“It resonated with me at that time, and kind of still does,” Lamarche said. “Leading up to next season, I know that I’ve got to work.”
As Lamarche looks forward to next season, she knows exactly what will keep her ready: her music. Though she initially thought about adding a country song to the Quinnipiac athlete playlist, she ultimately decided against it.
“I’ve got to be considerate when adding country,” Lamarche joked.
Instead, she chose “What Are You Waiting For” by Nickelback.
As graduate first baseman Sebastian Mueller takes his last practice swing and leaves the on-deck circle, “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix vibrates through the field’s speakers.
“My dad’s fantasy football team was named Purple Haze because he really likes that song,” Mueller said. “So I was like, ‘You know what? This actually would be a really good walk-up song.’”
As he steps into the batter’s box, Hendrix’s iconic distorted guitar tone reminds him of the music he grew up listening to.
“It’s always been a part of my life,” Mueller said. “Me and my sister joke around, like going with dad somewhere, you got the dad tunes going. That music’s always flying around the house.”
Both a constant presence in Mueller’s life, rock music and baseball are interwoven when he takes the field for Quinnipiac. And when he says “dad tunes,” he means it—Lynyrd Skynyrd, Deep Purple and his favorite, Led Zeppelin.
“I don’t know what it is about their music,” Mueller said. “It’s something I’ve always connected with.”
The connection runs deep. On game days, there’s hardly room for anyone else in his pregame playlist. Led Zeppelin offers exactly what Mueller needs to get in the right mindset.
“Baseball is a sport mentally where you don’t necessarily want to be super jacked up. You want to be fired up, but not too excited,” Mueller said. “So that’s why, for me, I’ve always liked Led Zeppelin music. I just like the zone it puts me in; it’s good for baseball.”
Mueller’s love for music isn’t confined to his headphones—it extends into the team’s culture.
On the team, he’s known as the “music guy,” the one who controls the music at practice and while training. While this task seems easy, Mueller navigates different genres of music to keep the energy levels high among the team.
“Some days it’s country, some days it’s rock, some days it’s Spanish music,” Mueller said. “Certain parts of baseball are not the most exciting, so having some music going to keep guys in a good mood is very helpful.”
And what also keeps the guys in a good mood? Winning. That occasion has its own anthem. After a big win, Mueller breaks out “Heartache Medication” by John Pardi.
“I’m not sure how it started, but everyone’s kind of learned the words, like, after a big win, we’ll just kind of play that and everyone will scream the words to it,” Mueller said. “So that’s been really fun, it’s funny stuff like that, that just kind of starts organically.”
A playlist for all the Quinnipiac athletes wouldn’t be complete without the baseball team’s DJ. If Mueller had to add one song, it would be “Fool in the Rain” by Led Zeppelin.
“That’d be my pick,” Mueller said. “Just kind of the beat to it, and the song is just a very chill, but also uplifting. That’s probably my pick.”
Senior guard Jackie Grisdale’s music isn’t limited to one mood or emotion to get ready for tipoff. She has music for any headspace she needs to get into to be ready to compete.
“Music is a way that I kind of feel through my emotions,” Grisdale said. “Whether it’s I want to get myself excited before a game, or if I really want to calm myself down, there’s my comfort music that I’ll listen to, and it’ll just be calming to me.”
Grisdale’s 13-hour-long playlist titled “Chilling” is her No. 1 playlist and features a variety music artists, including Tame Impala, Cage the Elephant, Fleetwood Mac and Harry Styles.
“That’s just like songs that are smooth in my mind,” Grisdale said. “They’ll help me focus a little bit more.”
Grisdale’s pregame music has evolved. At one point this season, her music to prepare for competition was more upbeat, featuring more rock acts such as Green Day and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
After a Dec. 19 game against Rider, one in which Grisdale finished with 14 points, aided by three 3-pointers, she realized that calm music before the game helped her shoot efficiently.
“It was in the morning, so I was like, ‘I can’t listen to like super hardcore hype up music at nine in the morning,’” Grisdale said. “I started that game with a three literally off the tip play, and I just was like, ‘Wow, if I’m gonna shoot like that, then I’ll keep listening to this music that calms me down.’”
Being calm on the court during the heat of battle is crucial to Grisdale’s game, but staying calm off the court, especially while battling an injury, is just as important.
After being sidelined for most of the 2023-24 season with a lower body injury, the soundtrack of Grisdale’s recovery was calming music that helped take her mind off it.
“That’s when I really got even more attached to Taylor Swift’s music and Mac Miller’s music,” Grisdale said. “They just applied to the situations that I was going through, and I just really connected with that.”
Grisdale’s contribution to the Quinnipiac athlete playlist would be “Glorious” by Macklemore—a song that reminds her of one of the first times she met sophomore guard Maria Kealy, who also shared a love for it.
“That was something we really bonded over,” Grisdale said. “And then our friendship grew, and we always talk about how that song was a big piece of that.”
If you spot freshman tennis player James Lorenzetti on campus, chances are he’ll have AirPods in his ears playing calm music.
“I’m bad with AirPods,” Lorenzetti said. “I probably always have an AirPod in.”
But ahead of every tennis match, Lorenzetti swaps the mellow tunes for something with more energy. Motivational music is a must—it flips a mental switch.
“I know I will be in a zone where I’m going to be locked in before the match,” Lorenzetti said. “It lets me relax.”
As part of the Quinnipiac tennis team’s training, the players often run together to build stamina. During those runs, one song always makes the playlist: “Hard Work” by The U.S. Army Airborne, a team staple that boosts morale.
Anyone who has parked in Quinnipiac’s North Lot has likely heard just how central music is to the team’s training. With a playlist of nearly 200 songs, the team brings energy to every practice. Even as a freshman, Lorenzetti has already added a few tracks of his own.
“‘DTMF’ by Bad Bunny,” Lorenzetti said. “That’s my favorite song, it’s got a lot of meaning behind it.”
It’s a must play before every match. The lyrics help him focus, grounding him in what really matters.
“It’s talking about how you should take more photos with your family, or just more photos in general,” Lorenzetti said. “Not wasting any time or just living in the present moment. So I always listen to that song.”
Among the other tracks that have become iconic parts of the team’s soundtrack are “Ugly Heart” by G.R.L. and “Lose Somebody” by Kygo and OneRepublic.
When asked the question, Spotify or Apple Music, most Quinnipiac athletes had a clear favorite. But Lorenzetti’s answer was a surprise.
“I use Musi, and I get so much hate for it from everyone,” Lorenzetti joked. “But I always say I don’t know why in the world I would pay for Spotify if I can have it for free on Musi.”
Even if he’s streaming through an unconventional app, Lorenzetti’s pick for the Quinnipiac athlete playlist is “Upside Down” by Jack Johnson.
“I listened to it so much when I was younger, way too much,” Lorenzetti said. “But it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. I think it’s an insane song.”
Both MAAC regular season tennis titles could be decided by the season’s final matches. Quinnipiac and Fairfield’s men’s and women’s programs were ranked in the top two in the preseason coaches poll, and an end-of-season date between the in-state rivals could determine who finishes on top this spring.
QUSportsPage’s Carlos Calo Rodriguez and Toni Wetmore broke down players to watch and storylines to monitor ahead of the April 17 matchup between the Bobcats and Stags.
MEN’S
Key players
The Bobcats will rely on the defending MAAC Player of the Year, Czechia native Daniel Velek, who is in his graduate year in Hamden, to keep pushing the team forward. Velek holds the No. 1 spot on both singles and doubles for the Bobcats. After posting a 17-8 record last season, he’s remained a crucial part of the Bobcats’ six-match winning streak, despite dealing with minor injuries this year.
Velek holds a 7-3 record in MAAC play and has found chemistry in doubles play with first-year James Lorenzetti, with the pair going 4-1 through the first five conference matches. In singles, sophomores Carlos Braun Simo and Finn Burridge each boast a 4-1 singles record so far in conference play.
Graduate transfer Alex Yang, who came by way of SMU, has been reliable in singles with a 4-1 record. Doubles, however, haven’t met expectations. Yang was anticipated to be a strong doubles partner for Velek, but the pairing didn’t click during the first tournaments of Spring. They went 0-3 in the first three tournaments playing together. Yang has only played one doubles match in MAAC competition and won it 6-3 vs. Siena, pairing with first-year Elias Hoxha.
Head-to-head against the Stags
Quinnipiac holds an 8-7 edge in the all-time series since the 2008 season.
Their most recent meeting was in the MAAC Tournament final last April when the Bobcats defeated the Stags 4-2 to clinch their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. On April 17, the stakes will once again be high, as both teams are expected to battle for the top seed and the regular season crown in what could be the match of the year. The Bobcats (5-0) are sitting in the No. 1 spot in the MAAC, while Fairfield (2-1) is currently No. 3 after falling to Siena on April 6.
What’s next?
Two matches remain before facing the Stags: Mount St. Mary’s on April 12 and Sacred Heart on April 13. Last season, the Bobcats beat Sacred Heart 4-3 and Mount St. Mary’s 6-1. Their only regular-season loss came against Fairfield, in a match that — like this year — was the final fixture of the regular season for Quinnipiac.
“Fairfield has the talent, and they have become our rival,” Quinnipiac men’s coach Bryan Adinolfi told the Quinnipiac Chronicle in early March. “Siena, Marist, and Niagara all have good teams as well. In my opinion, everyone is good, and no match will be easy, and everyone will have to fight for those six spots in the conference tournament to win the whole thing. In a sense that makes it really exciting, because our work ethic and team chemistry and all those things actually matter.”
With both teams unbeaten in conference play, the April 17 showdown will likely determine the MAAC regular-season champion and the No. 1 seed for the conference championships at Mercer County Tennis Park in West Windsor, New Jersey.
WOMEN’S
Key players
First-year Bobcat Willow Renton won MAAC Player of the Week twice this season. The first came after her performance on the road at Niagara on Feb. 28, earning the No. 1 spot for singles and doubles. Renton and Caitlin Flower were paired for the doubles match and won 6-2.
Renton then went 4-0 in her doubles and singles matches against Merrimack and Rider on March 29 and 30, respectively, all at the No. 1 spot. Her dominance is helping to propel the Bobcats toward an undefeated conference season.
While Renton lost her singles match against Siena this past weekend, her and Flower stayed in the win column in the doubles match with a 6-1 victory. Renton will look to regain her momentum as the Fairfield match gets closer and closer.
Flower won her singles match against Siena’s Andrea Vargas 6-3 and 6-4, making up for Renton’s loss. The team will need these two to continue to dominate together and individually to stay in the win column.
Head-to-head against the Stags
Same as the men’s team, the last time these two teams met was in the 2024 MAAC Championship, which Fairfield won 4-3.
Flower feels the team is more prepared to face Fairfield this time around.
“We have been really successful in the past against Fairfield, and I think we kinda underestimated them a little bit,” Flower told The Quinnipiac Chronicle in early March. “When we lost, it was a little bit of a surprise. This year, we’re focusing on taking it really seriously and putting in the work that needs to be put in to have a successful season and hopefully get the win at the end.”
What’s next?
The Bobcats will look to extend their win streak to six on Saturday for the last home match of the season. Quinnipiac will face Mount St. Mary’s, which currently sits in eighth in the MAAC with one conference win.
Then it’s a matchup at Sacred Heart, which is seventh in the MAAC at 2-3.
The Bobcats wrap up their regular season against undefeated No. 2 Fairfield. While Quinnipiac is 5-0 in MAAC play, Fairfield has only played two conference matches.
This April 17 matchup could be a preview of a fourth-consecutive MAAC title matchup for these two Connecticut powerhouses.
April 21, 2024, may have seemed like an ordinary day for everyone else. It wasn’t a holiday, it simply was just another Sunday in April. But not for the Quinnipiac men’s tennis team, who won its first MAAC Championship on that day.
Then-senior Donovan Brown played his final point against Fairfield graduate student Griffin Schlesinger and was immediately dogpiled by the rest of the team following an out-of-bounds return. The team hugged each other, celebrated and jumped around following it.
Now as Quinnipiac looks to make another run at the MAAC Championship, the team looks a little different
As the Bobcats — unanimously voted No. 1 in the MAAC preseason coaches poll — look to repeat this season, QU Sports Page’s Sam Vetto and Benjamin Yeargin bring to you everything you need to know about men’s tennis.
Roster
During Quinnipiac’s MAAC Tournament run last season, it used six players total in both the doubles and singles points. Two of those six are no longer with the team.
Shaurya Sood and Ayato Arakaki — the former team captain — both graduated in the spring, which leaves holes in the Bobcats top six.
Thankfully for Quinnipiac, it has the depth to counter that. The Bobcats retained reigning MAAC Player of the Year graduate Daniel Velek as well as mainstays in sophomores Finn Burridge and Carlos Braun Simo.
Velek, Burridge and Braun Simo will play a lot in the upcoming slate, with all of them hoping to add to their positive win-loss records in singles play. None of that trio has lost over eight singles sets.
But Velek lost his main doubles partner in Sood which went 19-9 overall. Brown also lost Arakaki; they went 12-12 together last season.
So who has Quinnipiac turned to to complete its top six? Mainly freshmen and graduate student Alex Yang, who transferred in from SMU. In the Bobcats 7-0 loss to Brown on Feb. 7, all of the aforementioned played but freshmen James Lorenzetti and Elias Hoxha each took a spot in the six-man rotation.
Head coach Brian Adinolfi has shaken up the doubles by splitting Burridge and Braun Simo. He’s paired Simo with Lorenzetti and Burridge with Hoxha. To fill in Sood’s spot with Velek, Adinolfi has turned to Yang. They haven’t won a point together.
Brown — who played in two matches in Quinnipiac’s fall slate — has not played any of the spring slate.
Additionally, the Bobcats carry five players that act as depth. Juniors Csanad Nyaradi and Gaurav Mootha and senior Yasha Laskin have spent their entire college careers at Quinnipiac. Freshmen Vishal Prakash and Carl Sjoholm join for their first MAAC campaign.
If the Bobcats want to repeat, they need Velek, Burridge and Braun Simo to carry the load. Otherwise, they’ll walk into the summer dreaming about what could’ve been.
The Returner
Velek is returning to the team where he made his mark on the MAAC. The Czech athlete, who was the 2023-24 MAAC player of the year, lost his previous doubles partner this past break, but replaced him with a new graduate student in Alex Yang.
Velek went 17-8 in singles competition over the past year, as well as 19-9 in doubles with his former partner, Sood. A big question going into this season for the returning MAAC POTY is how will his new partnership affect performance?
While the team has played one event since the start of the new year, Yang and Velek lost 1-6 to Penn State’s Reiya Hittori and Marcus Shoeman. This is something to keep in mind as the season goes on, but it is something to be taken with a grain of salt.
Although this new duo is fresh it is expected to make mistakes, a real sense of potential for the future of this duo can begin being stenciled in as the rest of the season progresses. Be prepared for a bump or two in the road, but with a player as strong as Velek returning to this roster, don’t be surprised if they end up figuring it out as the season goes on.
The New Face
Alex Yang, fresh off a stint at SMU, took his skills north to Hamden. The former Bronco came off an off year, going 5-3 in singles, as well as 1-1 in doubles playing in both mixed and standard doubles.
While numbers may be slim here in 2023-24, Yang made his mark in 2021-2022 where he made Second Team All-UAA and was named captain.
The right-hander is coming in with a bevy of experience in big moments. With the graduate student looking to take a step up, the real question will come from his performances going forward, as well as his success being paired up with Velek.
Schedule
The Bobcats have gone to NJIT, Penn State, St. John’s, Brown and Cornell — who have lost a combined three points — to start the season. So far, Quinnipiac has only won two points in its first five matches. That was because Lorenzetti’s opponent Penn State freshman Shrikeshav Murugesan was injured and couldn’t continue.
The Bobcats home opener is Saturday, Feb. 15 against Monmouth in North Haven, Connecticut. They’re at home again next weekend when they take on Bryant.
Although they do have courts on the Quinnipiac Mount Carmel Campus, the cold weather prevents Quinnipiac from playing on them until mid-March.
The Bobcats have a seven-match away stretch throughout the end of February and middle of March that’s punctuated with a MAAC semifinals rematch against Marist on March 22. The Red Foxes were picked to finish No. 5 in the coaches poll.
Then, Quinnipiac has a five-match homestand highlighted by a match against Siena on April 5. The Saints went 1-5 in MAAC play in 2024, only beating Mount St. Mary’s.
To close out the season the Bobcats have a MAAC finals rematch against Fairfield, at Fairfield. That game could be a pivotal turning point and potentially a preview for the MAAC Tournament, which will happen a week after that match.
Only the top four teams will make it to the Mercer County Park Tennis Center in April. Quinnipiac will look to play its way to a conference trophy for the second year in a row.
